A Practical Lesson From The Ascension
And how we can apply it to our Personal Lives, Business Endeavors, and Managing Employees.
During the sermon at Mass today, Father pointed out how the Ascension of Jesus allowed the Apostles to go from an adolescent Faith to a mature Faith.
After hearing this, I instantly tossed the idea I had for today’s post because this has soooo much application to our own lives, our business journeys, and how we deal with our employees.
Let’s get into it!
Personally
We all have a unique journey in coming to know God. While listening to the Faith Driven Entrepreneur podcast, I was reminded that God doesn’t move us from a forced ‘top-down’ approach. Instead, He does it through an internal dialogue that first takes root in our hearts.
The fist step in this journey is developing a vision to strive for. Next we have to acknowledge there are levels. Once we ‘beat’ level one, we need to understand level two and proceed with vigor. This goes on and on. Of course we sometimes fall back a level, but the goal is to improve constantly.
What’s also super nice is we don’t have to guess. The Church has laid out The Stages of the Spiritual Life for us. Since the objective is clear, the toughest part is the resolution to achieve that objective. Then taking the appropriate actions.
As leaders, we must pursue the highest level of spiritual perfection because people look up to us as business leaders. We never know who’s watching, but we always know Jesus is.
Pro tip: A huge unlock in this journey is recognizing what the biggest obstacle is. Then focus on that singular item to help gain progress.
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In Business
In the early days, as baby entrepreneurs, it’s safe to say most of our ideas were… terrible. Not just a terrible idea here and there—more like a constant stream of bad ideas. But we thought they were the best thing since power tools.
As you developed, got more exposure, and gained mentors, we learned a lot. Reflecting on our early ideas, we chuckle (or cringe) just a little. But it was a start.
Now that we have developed, we can reflect on that early stage as our ‘adolescent’ stage. Now, we may be in a ‘mature’ stage, but we certainly have many levels to go. With entrepreneurship, I assume there are more than 3 stages of development. (If anyone has a framework on this would love to see it)
We naturally level up by doing and then taking time to reflect on the experience. Reviewing past experiences with the context of new information also helps us understand things in a new light. We can then apply that to our future endeavors.
If, throughout the entire process, we had someone holding our hand and giving us play-by-play directions, we wouldn’t learn as much because we didn’t have the ‘pressure’ on us. Having that level of responsibility is what helps us learn and level up to the next stage of the game of entrepreneurship. Having the chance to fail is important for learning.
Recognizing this will help you be more patient with yourself.
Pro tip: Remember, this stage is not only about business learning. As entrepreneurs, God speaks to us in the minutia of day-to-day life. Pay attention!
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With Employees
Now, here is where I think this gets really interesting. The idea of the spiritual life being a series of phases caused by trial and effort is also great advice for developing employees.
If our employees never face any challenges, they could end up like the average Google employee… soft! Challenges are a way for employees to grow—a super fulfilling experience. Many people choose to stay in a job based on how challenging it is. It’s not always about money.
Following the example of the Ascension, give your employees space and time to figure things out and grow. When they become more capable, your business becomes more resilient because you won’t have to act as the duct tape holding it all together. On top of that, as the team gets better, they help each other improve, and they will attract more top-notch employees (the best like to work with the best).
Next time something goes wrong, if not life or death, don’t intervene immediately. Let them rise to the occasion. You’ll thank me later when you start to have some of the best talent in the industry.
(In the future, we will talk more about employee development based on principles of the faith)
Recap
Internalize the practical lesson of The Ascension—challenges and independence allow us to develop further and rise to the occasion—and then apply that principle to your Personal Life, your Business Endeavors, and how you Develop and Manage your Employees.
See ya next time!
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